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Roger Waters Calls for Musicians to Boycott Israel

3/7/2011 10:59pm EST

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Outspoken Pink Floyd star Roger Waters has called for musicians to boycott Israel while the nation operates on a "two-tiered racist system."

The rocker is planning to place an opinion piece about the ongoing problems in the Middle East in either the New York Times or Britain's The Guardian newspapers, but he has pre-empted that by speaking to TV news network Al Jazeera.

Waters reveals his op-ed piece will encourage his musical peers to join a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel.

He says, "I'm against Israel for exactly the same reasons that I was against South Africa: it's a two-tiered racist system. They (Israelis) have pass books (and) they have to carry identity cards that say whether they're a Jew or an Arab. It's insane.

"(I'm) calling on my fellow musicians and artists to join the BDS campaign against Israel. I've finally decided to put my head above the parapet. Enough is enough.

"They (Israeli officials) pay lip service to the idea that they want to make peace with the Palestinians and there's lots of talk around the possibility of a two-state solution. But, in the meantime, they're throwing people out of their homes in the Negev and East Jerusalem and they're annexing huge parts of the West Bank... They're quietly getting on with taking over the whole of the land. And what happens then to the Palestinians?"

It's not the first time Waters has spoken out against Israel - last year, he upset Jewish groups with an offensive video, played on a big screen behind him during his "The Wall" concerts.

He explained the video segment, which juxtaposed the Star of David (on Israel's flag) and dollar signs, was his stance on the conflict between Palestinians and Jews - but he insisted he wasn't trying to start trouble.

He told Rolling Stone magazine, "There are huge, huge profits to be made from war, and that, by and large, is why they happen so often. This show is unashamedly about all those big questions. Some people think that people shouldn't use the platforms that they have because of their celebrity or success. I don't subscribe to that view at all."

Photo Credits: Niva Bringas / PR Photos

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